Are you a Generous Mind?

Are you a Generous Mind? If you are intrigued by the idea, this is a place to explore what it means to you. Our blog focuses on helping you to learn what it means to be generous with what you know. You will find helpful tips and encouraging examples that will inspire you to release your ideas to the world! Find out more at www.generousmind.com.

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Where Generous People Spend Their Time

"Marketers need to spend less time making promises and more time keeping them." - Seth Godin

Our world is filled with people who spend their time making promises, claims, and boasts. Very few spend their time delivering. And I can see why. We reward those with audacious promises and we get bored with everyday diligence.

So whether you are a marketer, a project manager, a baker or a housewife, there is something to learn here. When you look at your day, what percentage of the time are you making promises about what you will do and what percentage are you delivering on those promises?

Sometimes we get addicted to making promises. We get a rush from the connection, the potential, the power of what might be. It is so thrilling that we immediately seek out the next rush. The problem of course is that we have now left that old promise in the dust and have extended ourselves so much that we are unlikely to be able to fulfill it.

Generous people learn to be generous with their promises and with the follow through. It would not be true generosity if they didn't, right? If I only promise to give a donation, I am not generous. It takes follow through to call it generosity.

The same is true in every other area (including our minds). Being generous requires more than promising to share your thoughts. You have to actually share them in a meaningful way!

What areas have you made promises but failed to follow through? What can you do today to make a change and begin to show true generosity?

4 comments:

Thanks for this post, Jon and Mindy. There certainly is a rush when making promises and envisioning potential. Today I spent about an hour working just on the headline and subheadings of a blog post to go live next week. Writing blog posts is the promise that's hard for me to keep - I fear failure. But without those blog posts, I don't have a lot of "meat" to show for what I do for a living. I must say it felt great afterward to know I had invested a chunk of time in nailing a heading and subheadings. I did that on some "generous" advice I got. :)

That's great to hear Johanna! That core writing and engagement is the follow through that makes the difference between you and most of the marketing/social media/promotions people out there. Substance and relationship always win in the end. Be encouraged!

Another excellent post! How can I become more generous? At the moment, my answer to that is to prioritize more. We all seem to respond to those who are in our face to get something done. I should prioritize to see the value of responding to those who aren't so aggressive about getting a response from me. Those who needs are just as important but who choose to be patient with me.

Keiki, I love that thought. By prioritizing we can be generous with those who have truely made an effort to engage rather than just the loudest voices. It goes back to intentionality. Let us know how it goes as you prioritize your generosity.

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About Us

Jon and Mindy Hirst have a passion to help others be generous with their ideas. Both graduates of Judson College with degrees in Communications, they are co-founders of Generous Mind (www.generousmind.com) and have the exciting role of raising three children.